ASRock Z77-Extreme6

[paradisiac]

Well my board arrived this morning. swapped it all over (I forgot to backup, but luckily windows 7 booted fine on the new board )

My Z68-Extreme 4

My new Z77-Extreme 6

first impressions is build quality is ok, not spectacular but doesn't feel flimsy either.
the usb 3 header is up near the sata ports rather than down the bottom with the usb 2 headers on the Z68-Extreme, which seemed to put less stress on the cable.
the bios is very similar to the Z68, with the addition of the system information, which when you highlight certain parts of the board, it tells you whats fitted (albeit for my GTX560 it just said NVidia display and HD audio, not the actual model number).
once everything is backed up will do a fresh install and try overclocking. I managed to get 4.6GHz stable with the Z68, I imagine this will achieve the same, but will see.
will also test out lucid mvp and see how the screen tearing works.

 

[paradisiac]

ok, so all backed up, here is the bios (similar options to the previous Z68)

the OMG is disabled by default, but gives you a few options on how to implement it. not sure how many people will use it though.

windows is going on now.

 

[paradisiac]

there is already a bios update lol

windows and drivers all installed. just windows updates to go now.

 

[paradisiac]

Lucid MVP

more programs in its list and seems like more options too. plus the virtual vsync option.

 

[paradisiac]

A new system and you never cleaned away all that dust out of the cpu cooler.

it will just get dusty again. wasn't too dusty and been over a year since last cleaned, so im sure it will be fine.

 

[paradisiac]

isnt the Lucid virtu stuff meant to be better than adding a new GPU? i.e 30-70% performance increase on games

so if you have a 6 series gpu and a z68 board your better upgrading to z77 than a new 7 series gpu without lucid virtu!

im not sure. just about finished all my updates and have stuck 3dmark 11 on. so will run a test shortly and post my results.
don't have anything to compare it to though, so will have to rely on others with a similar setup with Z68.
I really wanted the virtual vsync, if that works I will be happy.

 

[paradisiac]

hyperformance off virtual vsync off

hyperformance on virtual vsync off

hyperformance off virtual vsync on

hyperformance on virtual vsync on

from that there does seem to be a boost with the hyperformance on and virtual vsync off. even with virtual vsync and hyperformance on it scores higher than both off.

on a side note to the lucid MVP, there is now a right click addition, so if you right click a shortcut there is the virtu option there to run with, always run with or add to lucid list.

 

[paradisiac]

price?

mine came in at £149.40

 

[paradisiac]

im not sure (will post either tomorrow or later in the week when I have had a play) whether overclocking my cpu will increase the gains more (dunno if my stock 2500k would bottleneck the GTX560 with hyperformance). also, don't the newer IB chips have a better GPU, so the gap cold be a lot higher.

 

[paradisiac]

**** me all these asrock z77 comes with 2x USB 3.0 internal headers?

pretty sure mine only has 1 usb 3 header

 

[paradisiac]

you're right.....wrong info

- 3 x USB 2.0 headers (support 6 USB 2.0 ports)
- 1 x USB 3.0 header (supports 2 USB 3.0 ports)

lol there are 2 different USB 3.0 chipsets though Intel and Etron, and more than enough usb sockets to keep you going

 

[paradisiac]

i know but when you have shinobi xl with 4 usb 3.0 front you need 2 usb 3.0 headers

pci-e usb 3.0 card it is for you then

 

[paradisiac]

i think ivy gpu is better, shame that AMD dont have this. i know you can hybrid crossfire a low end passive with llano / trinity but using this hydra with trinity and a 7850+ would be interesting

I haven't used AMDs tech so don't know what sort of gains are to be had. hopefully over the next few days I will do some more testing on this board and see if anything else gets any gains.

what would be good software to get some similar testing to heaven?

 

[paradisiac]

ok, this is mine. everything at stock for now.

1680x1050 (hyperformance off)

1680x1050 (hyperformance on)

1920x1080 (hyperformance off)

1920x1080 (hyperformance on)

scores lower with hyperformance on, but max FPS is higher

 

[paradisiac]

with a quick play, I cant get 4.8GHz stable but can get 4.6GHz stable (10 IBT runs) with a lower vcore than on the Z68. I know its not a true test of stability, but will tinker more when I have time.

 

[paradisiac]

well its been running happily @ 4.6GHz with -0.005v offset Load Line Calibration Level 3 (0.9**v idle 1.33-1.34v under load). which is a fair bit better than my Z68 that I could only get running with +0.025 and level 5 (around 1.38-1.4v under load). unfortunately I haven't managed to boot into windows @ 4.8GHz yet, but I think for that I need to change more than just multi and vcore so when I have more time next week will have a play. I wasn't able to on my Z68 so might be a 4.6GHz chip.

unfortunately in my haste backing up, I forgot to do my steam folder, so they are downloading now. will post my findings tomorrow evening.

 

[paradisiac]

so overall was the upgrade worth or not?

for me, I have got a better (lower vcore) overclock and the board was free.
the lucid virtu mvp has made some difference with encoding, not had chance to test with games, that's my job for tomorrow evening.

overall, I would say IF you have a Z68 then its probably not worth shelling out the £100+ on a board for the sake of it. if you are looking to do a new build, hang fire until gigabyte and other companies release theirs.

 

[paradisiac]

erm free? you won it? send me z68 e4g3

i've already got z68 e4g3 but haven't started building new system, not much time will do soon......just in theory i could sell it and buy z77.

haha long story. basically my GTX460 failed, I sent it away, the shipped me a GTX560 as there were no GTX460s in stock, it wasn't logged on their system properly, so as far as they were concerned I never got a replacement card, so I was offered another card or credit, I took the credit.

 

[paradisiac]

Why did you not just tell them the truth and that you had already received a replacement card..?

if you read through my previous posts/threads about this I did tell them, and the nice lady on the phone said as it wasn't on the system then they wouldn't take it into account. I did not con them out of anything, I was honest all the way through the process.

that sounds like something you need to do in one purchase and buy 2 identical cards, not something as an after thought.
I have recently got my GTX460 swapped out for a GTX560 (the supplier had no GTX460s in stock ) but I got a call from them saying that they cannot replicate my fault, so are considering if they deem it acceptable to give my money back or return my GTX460. I explained that they had already sent me my GTX560 and I have it in my pc now so do I have to return it, to which she replied 'No, that is yours'. it puzzled me, but I wasn't prepared to argue.

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18380851

 

[paradisiac]

rofl, you don't get often this days....employer there must have been drunk hehe.

nah it all went through our suppliers at work, so we spend enough with them.